Staff: Mentor

The short version is that the gears amplify the torque because they make each turn of the input gear equal a fraction of a turn on the output gear. So turning one gear 10 turns may only get you 1 turn on the other, which amplifies the torque.

The basic mechanism used for mechanical advantage is the Lever. From the linked article:

The lever is a movable bar that pivots on a fulcrum attached to or positioned on or across a fixed point. The lever operates by applying forces at different distances from the fulcrum, or pivot.

As the lever pivots on the fulcrum, points farther from this pivot move faster than points closer to the pivot. The power into and out of the lever must be the same, so forces applied to points farther from the pivot must be less than when applied to points closer in.

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It boils down to the fact that when one end of the lever moves a shorter distance in the same time, the force must increase for the power to remain the same. Same with the gears.

There is a law of "conservation of energy", not "conservation of force" and all "mechanical advantage" laws are based on that. If you have a cog of radius R m and turn it through on complete turn, [itex]2\pi[/itex] radians, by applying force F Newtons, then its surface has moved through a distance of [itex]2\pi R[/itex] m and so you have done [itex]2\pi RF[/itex] Joules work on it.

If a chain or other ratcheting mechanism causes another cog, of radius r, to turn through the same distance, by "conservation of energy" you have done [itex]2\pi r f= 2\pi RF[/itex] Joules of work on it also and so must have applied [itex]f= (2\pi RF)/(2\pi r)= (R/r)F[/itex] Newtons force. "R/r" is the "mechanical advantage".

There is a law of "conservation of energy", not "conservation of force" and all "mechanical advantage" laws are based on that. If you have a cog of radius R m and turn it through on complete turn, [itex]2\pi[/itex] radians, by applying force F Newtons, then its surface has moved through a distance of [itex]2\pi R[/itex] m and so you have done [itex]2\pi RF[/itex] Joules work on it.

If a chain or other ratcheting mechanism causes another cog, of radius r, to turn through the same distance, by "conservation of energy" you have done [itex]2\pi r f= 2\pi RF[/itex] Joules of work on it also and so must have applied [itex]f= (2\pi RF)/(2\pi r)= (R/r)F[/itex] Newtons force. "R/r" is the "mechanical advantage".

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If the other cog, of radius r, turned through the same distance that the cog with radius R turned, then they must have the same work. Since work is F*d, then they both must have the same force? I am kind of confused by how you equated: